Why support Together for Peace and Justice (#GfFuG)?
To many, to most questions there are, often quite rightly, very controversial views. In the light of ethnic, cultural and religious differences and other factors, there often can not be the "one right answer". But there are also some societal fundamentals that should always apply equally to all people, across all borders.
Together for Peace and Justice wants to achieve that all people of all nations, in the spirit of an international democracy, speak with one voice in order to enforce an uncompromising adherence to the basic rules of securing world peace, promoting international cooperation and protecting human rights and equal rights of all nations and all people - against the resistance of those who do not want peace.
#GfFuG - Click to enlarge
No to war!
This is an absolute statement.
There is no exception and no but.
There is no justifiable war.
You don't have to be highly gifted, you don't have to be very smart, you don't need a very strong imagination and you don't need a deep education to understand how terrible war must be.
Like most people I know, I had the incredible luck of not having to experience a single war directly - a privilege. Unfortunately, this does not apply to all people in our principally beautiful world.
In a war, there are (almost) only losers.
The only ones who profit from a war are those who command it. Those who sit in a safe distance or protected in a bunker. Those who gain power and make a lot of money out of it, be it through the spoils of war or the sale of war equipment and weapons. Everyone else can only lose.
Reasons for war are lies.
No man has ever been saved by bombing.
Never a village has been saved by destroying it.
Anyone who fights in a war, fights for the interests of the powerful, not for God, the fatherland or honour.
War is - also from a legal point of view - a crime.
International law forbids any form of violence in international relations.
Even the threat of violence is a crime.
Every war concerns everyone.
It is wrong to assume that a war in distant countries does not concern you.
Only if all people take care of each other, solve the problems of our now very global world together and take the suffering of others as important as their own, can there be a future worth living in.
Disarm not upgrade!
Talk to each other, don't shoot each other.
That is the only logical consequence.
Nuclear weapons must be banned!
Diplomacy instead of bombs.
Nuclear weapons are one of the most terrible threats to the entire planet, yet some governments are sticking to the concept of mutual threat - they call it deterrence. The result is continued rearmament.
As long as atomic bombs exist, they pose an immense danger, be it through a misdirected commander or through a mishap, a malfunction, a false alarm, a misunderstanding, a computer error, an accident. Over the past 70 years, numerous near catastrophes have repeatedly shown that this concern is justified. →
The only real protection against nuclear war is the complete destruction of all nuclear warheads and permanent, voluntary, mutual control.
Banning guns is not a new idea.
The underlying principle is, to alleviate human suffering, through particularly cruel weapons, and to avoid the complete destruction of all, through weapons of mass destruction.
The Biological Weapons Convention has so far been ratified by 182 states and the Chemical Weapons Convention by 193 states. Only in the case of nuclear weapons is an exception made.
Biological, chemical and nuclear weapons must be outlawed without any exception.
Criminals must be punished!
When someone does evil, he's gonna get it.
What is taken for granted in all societies does not (yet) apply to the rich and powerful. If someone commits a murder, or instigates it, he will be brought to justice in all countries of the world and, if the act can be proven to him, sentenced to a high penalty. But if a state leader orders a war, hence becomes a mass murderer, lies to justify a war or otherwise commits a crime, he will not be punished. This is absurd and must be changed.
Together for Peace and Justice
The UN, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and many other international organizations and institutions were founded with the aim of promoting and ensuring peace, justice and international cooperation. This idea must be valued, promoted and strengthened.
We, all people of all nations, have the right - and the duty - to work for peace and justice, against war and other crimes.
To live a life in peace, international prosperity and free from fear of one's neighbours, all people must stand up for it together.
Résumé
Niccolò Machiavelli or Louis XI of France is said to have said „Divide et impera“ („Divide and rule“). Johann Wolfgang von Goethe made a counterproposal: „Divide and conquer!brave demand. Unite and lead!the best command.“ This is also the maxim of #GfFuG: Only united can we make the world a better place!
We can have a democracy or concentrated wealth in the hands of a few - but not both. Where rich people stand at the top, the majority does not rule - in such a society the government decides again and again against the interests of the broad masses.
Democracy means that power and government come from the people. The occasional walk to the ballot box is not enough. In a democracy, it is the people who are called upon, each and every one of them.
We will only know whether we really live in a democratic world and whether we deserve it, if we demand it together.
Every solution must be preceded by the will to find a solution - and therefore a rethink must take place first. The power structures of our world must be reorganised. All governments, especially those of the vetoing powers, must commit themselves to the international community and the United Nations and respect their goals. The welfare of the community must take precedence over the interests of one individual (person or state).
As co-founder of the UN and co-author of the Charter of the United Nations, the veto powers in particular are called upon to commit themselves to international rules and democracy. The right of veto must be abolished or at least mitigated, for example through the possibility of binding decisions by the General Assembly, whenever no decision can be found in the Security Council.
A question that everyone must answer for himself: „Those who have nothing to hide, need not fear the International Criminal Court. Can the powerful really afford to make themselves unreliable in such a manner?“
There is a power that can be able to adequately control the rich and powerful of this world. The people. But this power only arises when all people stand up together. That is why the participation of each individual in the G.f.F.u.G. initiative, including yours, is very important.
The so far most frequent comment to this initiative G.f.F.u.G.: "That does not happen anyway". The answer to this objection: "We will only know when we have done it".
Another comment: "Every great historical event began as utopia and ended as reality".
To all those for whom #GfFuG does not seem complex enough, let me say: "Often the solution is simplicity".